Friends and Fishing on the Potomac

Saturday was a beautiful day! The sun was shining and the temp was mild, mid 80's, and low humidity. But the best of all was getting to spend the day with friends on the water. Our friends Bob and Holly have a boat (Revelation is her name) and invited us for the day. I went earlier with another friend, Linda, and we girls spent the morning at the pool at the marina at Port Kinsale on the Potomac River. We then enjoyed a wonderful summer lunch of shrimp and wild rice, fresh corn salad, and fresh tomatoes with basil. The men arrived after lunch and we headed out to try our hand at fishing.




Unfortunately, we didn't catch any fish, not even a nibble but we had a wonderful time anyway. Thanks so much Holly and Bob for sharing your blessings with us. It was a perfect day!

Linda, Holly and Des

Fresh Corn Salad

I made this the first time a few years ago for a group of friends who came for dinner. It was a huge hit! I made it again this week for lunch with friends and was reminded how wonderful and fresh this salad is. Try it.

Fresh sweet summer corn requires no cooking, which makes this a particularly appealing warm-weather side dish for grilled fish, poultry, or meat.

Yield 8 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup light sour cream
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
3 cups fresh corn kernels (about 5 ears)
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped green onions

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add corn and remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 112 (21% from fat)
Fat: 2.6g (sat 1.3g,mono 0.3g,poly 0.5g)
Protein: 4g
Carbohydrate: 22.2g
Fiber: 3.1g
Cholesterol: 8mg
Iron:0.8mg
Sodium: 94mg
Calcium: 13mg

Brett and Jes came to visit this weekend. We started our weekend golfing at Windy Hill Par 3 Golf Course. David and I went earlier in the week and had such a good time we wanted to go again this weekend. We all had a great time and we each enjoyed a few great shots! We also got to enjoy a few hours at the pool to cool down and relax. Later we went home and fixed a great meal together. We had grilled turkey medallions with orange citrus & red onion salsa, baked coconut shrimp and whole grain rice with black beans and cilantro. We had a red, white and blue dessert made with angel food cake (sugar free and fat free), blueberries, strawberries and sugar free Cool Whip. Delightful!

Our garden is really starting to produce and we are picking several tomatoes almost everyday. So, I decided to have a tomato themed lunch on Sunday. We had BLT's, Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad, and Tomato Mozzarella Basil Salad. Delicious!

We missed the rest of our family and hope you had a blessed weekend. We love you!

Salsa Chicken and Orange Chipolte Ribs

SALSA CHICKEN

We really enjoyed this dish today after church. It was pretty quick and very tasty! Try it, you'll like it!

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium zucchini, quartered
1 medium summer squash, quartered
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 lb chicken, cut into bite size pieces
1 pack taco seasoning mix
1 small can fire roasted green chilis
1/2 cup salsa
2/3 cup low fat mexican blend cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Spray 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add all veggies and garlic, saute for about 4 minutes. Pour mixture into baking dish. Mix taco seasoning mix with uncooked, bite size chicken pieces. Return pan to heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil, add chicken mixture. Cook for about 5 minutes or until almost cooked through. Add chicken to veggie mixture and stir. Top with green chilies, salsa and cheese. Bake in oven 10-15 minutes. Serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy. Makes 4 large servings. For those counting WW points this is 6 pts before any additional toppings. (I only had summer squash from my garden, so I didn't use zucchini. I also substituted green pepper for red, because I had some from my garden. Any heat came from the taco seasoning mix, so you can adjust amount you use. I liked the amount of flavor the seasoning mix added, so I will continue to use this ingredient. I used a little bigger baking dish and felt is was a perfect fit. I chopped up some cilantro and sprinkled on top after I removed the dish from oven and let it sit for 5 minutes or so. I also mixed one large avacodo with a little chopped cilantro, juice from 1/2 lime, salt and garlic to taste. I added a spoonful on top and thought it was a wonderful addition.)

ORANGE CHIPOLTE RIBS

I made this for David for Father's Day. We enjoyed fresh cucumbers from our garden and corn ont the cob.

--3 pounds beef or pork ribs
--1/2 cup ketchup
--1/4 cup orange marmalade
--1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
--2 T soy sauce
--2 T brown sugar
--2 t chipotle chili powder
--1/4 t cumin
--1/4 t ground ginger
--4 cloves smashed and chopped garlic

I used 6 qt crockpot, the ribs fit well inside.

I didn't brown or pre-cook my meat at all. It was thawed, however. If you are using frozen meat, it will take longer to cook, but will be just fine.

In a mixing bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the sauce---which is everything listed up there, minus the ribs.

Put the ribs into your crock--you may need to cut the racks up with poultry shears to get them in there nicely.

Pour your sauce over the top.

Close and cook on low for 8-9 hours, or on high for 5-6. The meat is done when it has reached the desired tenderness and is no longer pink. I prefer the meat to fall off the bone, and eat with a knife and fork. If you'd rather gnaw on the bones, pull them out after 4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.


We enjoyed these very much. The orange marmalade really added a unique flavor. I think a little more brown sugar and ketchup wouldn't hurt. I will add finely chopped onion to the sauce next time. I cooked these for 4-5 hours on high and thought they could have cooked longer to achieve the fall off the bone doneness I prefer. You may be wondering about the green pepper in the picture but not in the actual recipe. It came from our garden and I intended to finely chop it and include it but then didn't.

Let me know if you give these recipes a try. This week, I plan to make Asian Chicken and Noodle Toss and Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Orange and Red Onion Salsa, both recipes are diet friendly!

Our First Produce

We decided to utilize space along our deck to experiment with gardening this year. In April, we borrowed a tiller and worked the soil really well. We then purchased some manure to work into the soil to fertilize. We were feeling very organic, by now.

We purchased our plants from Lowe's and they had a good selection, especially for novices like us. Our goal this year was to decide if we thought it was worth the effort. So far so good. This week marks our first picking of fresh produce! Woo Hoo! We have a green pepper, yellow squash and a cucumber! (Portrait of this picking is at the bottom) We are very anxious to pick tomatoes. We have 10 plants that are loaded. Each plant has at least 20 - 25 tomatoes. I am gathering canning supplies so I can keep up when they are ready. I canned with friends last year and had a wonderful time. I am looking forward to doing it again. In the mean time, I will can a few on my own. We also have several squash plants that have bloomed well and have several small squash almost ready so far. I will have to research some good recipes for squash 'cuz I think we will have a lot! Please pass on any you know of. We have 2 cucumber plants, 6 red and green bell pepper plants that I am not very confident we will get much off of. We will have to figure out why they aren't doing as well. Lastly, we are hoping for butternut squash and watermelon. Haven't seen much evidence they will produce anything but it was worth the try.

An Aerial View

The tomatoes are teasing us with a little tinge of color.

Our First Produce!
We are looking forward to a healthy, productive summer!

29 Years And Feeling Blessed

We enjoyed a wonderful evening Friday, celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary. We had decided a couple of weeks ago we weren't going out of town. We planned to go to dinner on Friday even though our anniversary isn't until Sunday. It makes it last longer that way! I had fun throughout the week shopping for a few clothing items for our special date knowing that David would really appreciate my attention to detail to please him. The scarf/wrap is one of my purchases. I also purchased a new pair of brown crop pants (on clearance for...$6.24!) and new brown, very cute shoes. I also got to get my hair done. I told David I had a really cute outfit that he would really like and he asked me what color I was wearing. I really didn't want to give him any clue but told him green and brown. As we were getting ready for our evening he gave me the jewelry that so perfectly matched my outfit. He is so sweet! We to Hill Cafe in Richmond for dinner. It was a very quaint place and had a wonderful selection on the menu. We had a crab themed meal with crab dip appitizer, and crab cakes and salmon entrees. It was a wonderful, relaxed dinner. Earlier in the day, I heard a piece of a song on the radio that said "I'm lucky to be married to my best friend". I loved it and went home and downloaded it because I thought is was the perfect song for us right now. The song talks about where we have been, where we are and where we're going and feeling lucky to be married to our best friend. Of course, we know luck has nothing to do with anything. We are blessed by God who has given us to each other and has continually given us opportunities to grow together and the grace to follow His leading.

In Like A Lion!

March has come in like a lion! It rained most of the day yesterday, March 1 and started snowing late afternoon and hasn't really quit as of 1:00 pm March 2nd. I think we have 8-10 inches. Huge, white flakes are floating down right now. These pictures do not capture the scene. Beautiful! I think this is the most snow we have had since we have lived in Virginia! I didn't get a picture of Hershey but she has been out once this morning. She ran and ran around the yard. The snow almost reached her belly! I think she was a little confused as to where she was supposed to go the the bathroom. She hasn't been out since. David has been out and scooped the walk. I have enjoyed the view! Thankfully, we have not lost electricity but many have in the Richmond area. I made a big pot of Chicken, Vegetable and whole wheat Orzo soup yesterday afternoon. What's a snow day with out a big pot of soup. By the way, it is really good! Sorry, mom, but I love the snow. It is so fresh and clean and helps me remember what God does in our hearts by the blood of Jesus. Psalm 51 is one of my favorite passages. My prayer today is from verse 7, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. " and verse 10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." And may it be so.